Jim Kolbe was a Republican who represented Arizona in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1985 until 2007.
- Died: December 3, 2022 (Who else died on December 3?)
- Details of death: Died of a stroke at the age of 80.
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Political career
After serving in the U.S. Navy during the Vietnam War, Kolbe began his political career in 1996 in the Arizona Senate. He served in the state Senate until 1982, when he resigned to seek national office. Though Kolbe lost his first national election, he won in 1984 and began representing Arizona’s fifth district. He was reelected 10 times, later representing the eighth district after rezoning. In 1996, Kolbe came out as gay and became the second openly gay Republican elected to Congress when he was next reelected. Among his causes was the effort to discontinue the penny coin; noting that the production of a penny cost more than its worth, he introduced the 2001 Legal Tender Modernization Act that would have put an end to the production of the penny. He served in the House until his retirement in 2007. A moderate who championed bipartisanship as he worked with Democrats on key issues including reproductive rights, Kolbe switched his voter registration to Independent in 2018.
Tributes to Jim Kolbe
Full obituary: Arizona Republic